European Institutions

ECJ Develops Standard for State Notifications to Commission

July 17, 2019

The Court of Justice of the EU (ECJ) has interpreted EU treaties to require the bloc’s member states to provide “sufficiently clear and precise information” describing to European Commission authorities how they are transposing into their national law directives imposed on them by the EU institutions.
ECJ Permits Lithuania to Make TV Station Pay-per-View

July 17, 2019

The Court of Justice of the EU (ECJ) has upheld a decision by Lithuanian authorities to require broadcasters to charge customers a fee to watch a Russian-language television station due to that station’s broadcast of material that constitutes “incitement to hostility to and hatred of the Baltic States on grounds of nationality.”
EU Falters in Effort to Counter Disinformation

July 17, 2019

The New York Times reports that critics of the EU’s “Rapid Alert System,” established to deter Russian propaganda and alert Europeans about online disinformation campaigns, has become powerless due to concerns of political backlash and threats to free speech.
MEPs Criticize Process of Selecting New EU Leaders

July 10, 2019

Euractiv reports that Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have criticized European Commission and Council leaders for what they deemed to be a non-transparent process through which they chose the next leaders of EU institutions following the recent European parliamentary elections.
UK Party Backs Remaining in EU over Conservative Brexit Deal

July 10, 2019

The Guardian reports that the leadership of the main opposition party in the UK Parliament, the Labour Party, has signaled the party will seek to hold a second referendum to decide on the adoption of a Brexit deal struck by the Conservative Party and that it would campaign to remain in the EU in such a referendum.